Officers found the body, which has not yet been identified, after more than a day of meticulous forensic work in and around a field and woodland at Mautby, near Caister.

POLICE have found the body of missing teenager Simon Everitt in an area of woodland at Mautby.

Officers found the body, which has not yet been identified, after more than a day of meticulous forensic work in and around a field and woodland at Mautby, near Caister.

A post-mortem examination is expected to take place later today or tomorrow, police said, and no details of the cause of death will be released until then.

DCI Steve Strong said: “I am as satisfied as I can be at this stage that the body we have located in Mautby is that of Simon Everitt. The family have been notified of the discovery.”

A 40-year-old woman arrested in relation to the investigation remains in custody.

Simon's family released a statement through police today telling of their “upset” over the discovery of the body, adding they would not give up on the hunt for their son until the identity of the body had been confirmed.

It read: “We feel at this time the news is upsetting and we are going to have to wait to find out if this body is Simon.

“Simon is missed and loved and he needs to know we still hold him in our hearts and thoughts. Until we are told differently, our posters stay up and we will still be looking for our son.”

Simon was last seen on June 7. On Thursday, police recovered his silver mountain bike from a lay-by at Corton, near Lowestoft.

On the same day they sealed off a wooded track next to a sugar beet field at Church Farm, Mautby.

A murder inquiry was launched last week after a phone call tip-off to the police control room.

Three people - two men aged 24 and 19 and a woman aged 40 - were quickly arrested on suspicion of murder but later released on police bail after questioning at separate police stations.